


Keeping Secrets

by OmoYasha



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bed-Wetting, Book 3: Fire (Avatar), Gen, I WROTE THIS TEN YEARS AGO DON'T JUDGE ME, Toph is highkey the smartest in the Gaang, everyone is a little ooc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:32:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29325513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OmoYasha/pseuds/OmoYasha
Summary: It was a full two weeks after he joined their team before Toph casually brought up the topic of the firebender as they talked late one night.“Sparky’s hiding something, you know.” she offered conversationally, wiggling her toes in front of the campfire....By morning, they all forgot their worries about Zuko.  All of them, that is, except for Katara.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 23





	Keeping Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> THIS FIC IS VERY, VERY OLD. Like, written probably circa 2011, before OmoYasha graduated high school, old. My writing here is NOT up to my current standard, and Katara and Zuko in particular seem OOC to me compared to the way I would portray them nowadays. But I found this while I was looking in some old notebooks, and thought it might be fun to share regardless.

It was a full two weeks after he joined their team before Toph casually brought up the topic of the firebender as they talked late one night. When said firebender retreated to his bed, the girl frowned slightly.

  
“Sparky’s hiding something, you know.” she offered conversationally, wiggling her toes in front of the campfire.

Everybody stared.   
  
“Wait, WHAT? Why didn’t you say something earlier?!” shrieked Katara.   
  
Toph shrugged. “Didn’t seem important. Pretty sure he isn’t plotting against us, but the guy’s been kind of shaken up since he came, and it doesn’t seem like he’s chilling out any. Oh yeah, and he outright lies whenever someone asks if he’s okay.”

“Sooooo…” Sokka broke in, “What you’re saying is that Mr. Jerkbender is keeping some kind of secret, he’s got the heeby-jeebies, and there’s something wrong with him?”

“Uh, yup. That about sums it up.”

Sokka laughed. “Seriously, you’re worried about that? Sounds like a case of normal teenage dude spaz to me. Plus, I mean, OBVIOUSLY the guy isn’t ‘fine’; he just ditched his home and his girlfriend for a bunch of kids he used to hate! You ladies just worry too much.”

Everyone stared at Sokka for a moment.

Finally, Aang said thoughtfully, “Wow, Sokka, that actually makes a lot of sense!”

“Hey! I have got a brain you know - you don’t have to sound so surprised!”

The conversation dissolved into laughter when the group caught Katara’s muttered comment on how helpful it would be if he actually used it once in a while.

By morning, they all forgot their worries about Zuko. All of them, that is, except for Katara.

She still didn’t trust him, and Toph’s comment only made her more suspicious. From now on, she would watch him every waking moment - she’d be darned if she fell for whatever trick he was trying to pull.

And because Katara watched him, she was the first to realize that he got up well into normal sleeping time each night, moved around the temple doing something, and eventually went back to his room.

He had to be up to something, and she had to find out what.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Katara had stayed awake that night, waiting for Zuko to pass her room on his nightly wanderings. When he had, she had stood silently behind the doorway, counted to ten, and carefully followed. When she heard quiet splashing from the fountain, the waterbender grew even more suspicious - there was no way he’d come down hours before sunrise just to bathe. The guy was weird, but she was pretty sure he washed with the other boys.

Since there was no way to easily watch the courtyard without giving herself away, Katara hid in a nook and listened, instead. He was mumbling to himself, and he sounded upset.

_ Oh, so he feels  _ **_bad_ ** _ about lying to us and leading us into some trap. That makes it so much better! _

Katara waited, but she couldn’t make out Zuko’s words, and nothing more happened… until, as the firebender neared his door, some of the ambient dust from the old temple settled in her nose as she stood stock still, fighting to keep breathing evenly and quietly…

Katara sneezed.

Zuko whirled around to look, and she realized with a start that her teammate was carrying a bundle of wet laundry.

“Who’s there?” he asked, dropping his laundry to take on a bending stance. Katara gave up - her cover was blown, and besides, the idiot apparently just liked doing laundry at midnight.

“Relax, it’s just me. Remember? Your  _ teammate? _ ”

He did relax, a little bit, but then stiffened, and quickly ducked to grab his wet blanket from the stone floor.

_ Wait a second… his  _ **_blanket_ ** _? _

Katara scrutinized Zuko’s laundry as he snatched each item off the ground, but it took a few seconds for it to click.

Blanket. Undershirt. Trousers. Loincloth. Only one of each item - the laundry was suspiciously lacking in typically items such as sweaty workout clothes. She stared.

“No way. Seriously, Zuko? You peed your bed?”

If she hadn’t figured it out, Zuko’s expression would have confirmed Katara’s guess.

“What? N-no! I just wanted to do laundry without Toph asking everyone what my underwear looked like!”

Katara snorted. “Right. You know, that’d be a lot more believable if you were washing more than  _ one pair _ .”

The situation was too unexpected - Katara couldn’t help it even if she wanted to. She snickered. And giggled. And  _ could not _ stop laughing.

“Oh, oh, this is too good. Mean master Firebender wets the bed like a baby  _ every night?! _ And you want to be in charge of teaching Aang - you can’t even teach yourself not to pee at night!”   
  
Katara knew that she’d struck a nerve, and that it was a bit mean to mock him for something he probably couldn’t help. But the guy had backstabbed her, had chased the all around the world… so she kept laughing. The waterbender only realized she’d gone too far when a tongue of fire lit the night - she shrieked as she ducked away. When Katara blinked away the glare, Zuko was no longer in front of her, but a light was glowing in his room.’

Seething, she stomped in, ready to beat the crap out of her jerkish fire nation traitor of a teammate. Yes, she was rude. But reacting to that with firebending was totally unacceptable!

But when she stepped into the spartan room, Katara’s mind went blank.

There was Zuko, curled in a corner, laundry scattered on the floor. His shoulders shook, and after a moment, Katara realized - he was crying?

Instinct took over as she realized just how strange it was to see such a proud person cry. Zuko might be a lying backstabber, but he had far too much pride to fake an act like that.

“...Zuko…?”

The boy jumped. She was surprised he hadn’t heard her coming.

“Get away from me!”

“Zuko, look, I - “

“GET OUT!”

He was standing now, not quite facing her. Steam hissed around his fists, and his posture was stiff and tense.   
  


“Zuko - “ she tried again, only to be interrupted by a crash as some household item - she wasn’t sure what, an unlit candle maybe? - smashed into the wall vaguely near Katara, although she was pretty sure it hadn’t been intended to actually hit her. Probably.

Unfortunately, it was just about then that the others all came rushing into the room, all talking over each other in a rush of unintelligible questions until Toph stomped her foot and yelled, “STOP IT!”   
Everybody stared at Toph.

“ _ Thank you. _ She -” she gestured at Katara, “Is freaked out, but fine.”

“He,” she pointed at the corner, “has his heart going so fast I’m surprised it hasn’t exploded, and he’s coiled up like a spring ready to pop. So let’s all go out for a chit-chat, and leave Sparky here to chill out. I bet he doesn’t feel like talking anyway.”

Zuko had shifted back to a tense, guarded position, his eyes flickering back and forth across the others. Reluctantly, the whole group shuffled out.

Once outside, Toph earthbended a door to the room, and turned to Katara. “Okay miss sugar queen, what the heck happened?”

Katara flushed a little, feeling abruptly guilty as she thought back on her behavior.

“Well, I came to see what he was always doing at night - it was suspicious! - and I, um.” She shifted awkwardly. 

“I figured out something really embarrassing about him, I guess? And I - well, I kind of teased him about it pretty badly. So - “ Thinking quickly, she decided to edit out the fire, and hope that Toph wouldn’t call her out on it. “So he shoved me away and I guess ran to his room. And I went to apologize, and he was really upset and I tried to talk to him, and he threw something at me.”   
  


She met their gazes. “He didn’t do anything, guys. I was… I was being kind of mean.”

There was silence, and then Aang sighed. 

“Thanks for being honest, Katara.” he said, giving her a tentative smile. He paused for a moment. “But, why was there wet laundry all over the floor?”

Katara froze, unsure how to answer without making the situation with Zuko even worse. In the end, she didn’t have to.

“Well duh, that’s because he wets the bed.”

Everyone stared at Toph once more.

“He - wait,  _ what? _ ” asked Sokka. Katara blinked.

“You knew?”

Toph just shrugged. “Uhh…. yeah? Is it supposed to be a big deal or something? It’s kinda obvious.”


End file.
